Thinner Than Blood
by Ashika
Summary: A figure skater from Disney on Ice is dead and, as usual, no one is confessing. The CSI team has a couple of witnesses and a suspect who’s nowhere to be found. .:Editted Ch. 3:.
1. Backstage

**Title:** Thinner Than Blood  
**By:** Ashika  
**Summary: **A figure skater from Disney on Ice is dead and, as usual, no one is confessing. The CSI team has a couple of witnesses and a suspect who's nowhere to be found. "There's an underground to figure skating? You've got to be kidding!"  
**Disclaimer:** If I owned any part of CSI, I would hardly be writing fanfiction, now would I? In any case, it belongs to CBS and etc. Disney On Ice is property of Disney and it's affiliates.

* * *

Holly dragged her mother through the hallway. "Mommy, I wanna meet Beauty, Beast, and Gaston!" 

Her mother laughed. If John hadn't gotten her backstage passes, they could be almost home. But John knew Holly loved figure skating. She loved the skaters, the glitter; the ice. Sometimes Holly's mother wished she had never brought her daughter to an arena. She wished she had left the little white boots on the shelf.

It was too late. Holly was obsessed and her mother had to suffer. They had to get up at 5 to be at the arena for 6. Holly's practice was at 6:30.

Holly's mother would drag herself to the coffee machine, dumping in $1.25 for a large cappuccino. But all of her complaints went away when she got to watch her little girl – blonde hair flying in the wind and little pink skirt fluttering around her. Besides, at least Holly was doing something athletic. She wouldn't be one of those kids who got into violence and drugs. She had something to work for.

So when Disney On Ice came into town, Holly was the first to bring it up. At ten she was capable of blatant manipulation. Her mother was amused by the way her daughter could get her father to do anything. And Holly wanted to go to Disney On Ice.

It was lucky that her husband knew the arena manager. She wasn't sure they would have been able to afford tickets. But John was generous and even gave them the backstage passes.

He'd winked and said, "Don't worry about it. These aren't selling so great anyway. People just don't want to come and see skaters. They want blood and guts. I've always liked figure skating. At least they don't smell nearly as bad as the hockey players. Tell Holly to have a good time."

So they went. The show was good. Holly could barely sit still and when the show was over she wanted to sprint downstairs to the locker rooms. "Hold on, honey. They're just barely off the ice. There's no way that they could be ready for visitors."

Holly tugged on her mother's arm, blue eyes pleading. "Please, Mommy? Let's go now! I want to be first to meet them."

Her mother smiled. "Wait for some of these people to leave. They're going home, so we shouldn't get in their way."

"But - "

Her mother gave her the _look_. "I said no. We're going to wait and then we'll go." Her gaze softened. "It'll be easier for us to get there if we wait. There won't be so many people moving around."

Holly pouted, but was easily consoled by a lollipop her mother dragged out of her purse. Half the people were gone when Holly's mother finally stood. "Okay, I think we should be fine now. Do you need to use the bathroom?"

Holly wanted to say no, and get right downstairs, but decided against it. If she got to the locker rooms and _then_ had to go to the bathroom, she'd be wasting their time. She nodded to her mother, "Yeah, I have to go pee."

Her mother smiled and led her to the bathrooms. The line was still horrendous, but it seemed to be moving fairly quickly. She stood and waited for her turn, holding her daughter's hand.

"Mommy, I wanna go see them!" Holly whined.

Holly's mother gave her a stern look. "It's almost our turn. Now hush."

Holly fidgeted the entire time, clearly wishing she were meeting the skaters. Their turn came and went and Holly dragged her mother to the skaters. They showed their passes to the guard and he smiled at Holly. "Have a good time, kid."

She smiled like Santa had just given her an ice arena. "I will! I can't wait to meet them!" The guard chuckled before waving them through. "Just go follow the signs. Don't go into the rooms, they'll come out."

Holly's mother smiled back. "Thank you, sir."

The hallway was brightly lit, though one light flickered in its last hours. One man walked toward them clearly in a bad mood. He scowled until he registered that there was someone in front of him. He forced a smile onto his face and nodded to them as they passed by.

Holly, of course, couldn't let him go by without knowing if he were Gaston. "Excuse me, sir," she said. She was always polite to others in public. Holly's mother wished she were so nice at home. "Are you the Beast?"

The man stopped and his smile became a little strained. He turned back to Holly. "Sorry, no I'm not."

"Are you Gaston?"

"Nope. Hey, I've got to go. Sorry."

Holly looked disappointed but nodded. "Can you sign my program anyway?"

The man laughed, his smile real and looking years younger. "Sure, what's your name?"

"Holly."

"Cool." He signed the program in the silver gel pen Holly had insisted on bringing. "Do you skate?"

Her face was eager. "Yes, I love skating. I skate everyday. I want to win the Olympics."

The man looked sad. "Awesome, you do that. I'll be watching." He didn't sound patronizing and Holly looked ecstatic. He handed the program back to her.

_Best wishes, Holly. Go for the gold! _

His signature was indecipherable, but Holly didn't care. Her first signature!

Her mother wanted to know who he was. As he hoisted his bag back onto his shoulder she asked, "What's your name, sir?"

"Daniel Ramleb," he smiled. It was forced. "I'm sorry, I really have to go."

Holly's mother was worried. "Are the other skaters still here?"

His jaw muscle ticked. "Yeah, just keep walking. You'll find them."

"Thanks."

He walked on and Holly and her mother trekked toward the rest of the skaters. The pale grey walls were marred with hockey puck marks. Holly continued to babble about how excited she was to meet the skaters.

A locker room door was open. Holly's mother thought it may be the doors they were looking for. She remembered the guard's warning. _Don't go into the rooms._ She wondered why.

Before she could stop her, Holly was plunging into the locker room.

"Holly, no - "

The door stood wide open and a girl stood over another holding a skate. Blood dripped from the blade and the girl on the floor was obviously wounded – badly.

Holly's eyes grew round and she screamed.

* * *

**  
AN: Well…that was interesting. I will actually introduce the CSI team next chapter, but this was sticking in my mind. Now, don't be angry, but Disney On Ice doesn't actually get farther west than Oklahoma (according to the Disney On Ice website). I didn't realize this until after I started writing this, mainly because there was something I misinterpreted. All in all, even without Disney _actually_ coming to Las Vegas, I did check and there are arenas in LV. Of course, there's arena almost anywhere. I do, as a general rule, know what I'm talking about. I haven't been on any tours, but I've heard stories from my coaches. And I've done some traveling through skating, myself. I also realize that Beauty and the Beast is only playing in Asia and Australia. **

**Any questions or comments? Please leave a review. It makes my day, even if they're flaming.**


	2. Blood Rubber

**Title:** Thinner Than Blood  
**By:** Ashika  
**Summary: **A figure skater from Disney on Ice is dead and, as usual, no one is confessing. The CSI team has a couple of witnesses and a suspect who's nowhere to be found. "There's an underground to figure skating? You've got to be kidding!"  
**Disclaimer:** If I owned any part of CSI, I would hardly be writing fanfiction, now would I? In any case, it belongs to CBS and etc. Disney On Ice is property of Disney and it's affiliates.

* * *

Grissom was beginning to regret coming into work tonight. This was unusual for him, but nevertheless, he was tired. And his head hurt. 

And now there was a case sitting on his desk that was so ridiculous his headache was getting worse. A Disney on Ice figure skater was dead. Incidents with figure skaters hadn't come to light since the Tonya Harding episode. He didn't even want to think about why someone would want to kill a Disney on Ice figure skater.

He thought about who he was going to send. It should be an easy case. The chief suspect was found holding the murder weapon over the dead girl. Grissom knew he shouldn't jump to conclusions like that, but he really didn't want this.

Making his decision, he called Nick and Sara into his office. "We have a DB at the Las Vegas Ice Center. I want you two on it." He paused, "Please."

Nick grinned. "Who's dead, any idea?"

Grissom glared. "A figure skater."

"A…what?" Sara's eyebrows rose and she stifled a snort. "Okay, let's go."

Grissom wondered if Aleve would help his now burgeoning migraine.

* * *

They arrived at the scene and there was lots of blood. Some of it had drained into the hole in the middle of the floor. The body – obviously a girl – lay on her stomach wearing a skating dress. 

Sara and Nick looked at each other before stepping into the crime scene. Brass stood to the side waiting for them. "The girl's name was Stephanie Verronna. Jennifer Blanchett was found standing over her with the bloody skate," he nodded to the skate on the bench. "Those two," he looked to a woman and her child, "were the ones who found them. The poor kid's been traumatized – hasn't spoken a word since we got here."

They took a look around the locker room. It was shaped like a regular hockey locker room. The grey walls were marred. The darker grey benches were low to the ground and the hooks jutted out of the wall. There was blood spatter on one of the walls about halfway up.

They stepped lightly, taking pictures of everything and anything that could be considered evidence. The adjoining bathroom door was closed, but Nick dusted it for prints. It was covered in them, overlapping with the multitudes of people going to the bathroom. He found a syringe needle on the floor, and whether it pertained to the investigation, he had no idea. He snapped pictures and put it in a little plastic bag, just in case.

The bathroom smelled disgusting. The aroma of sweat and urine wafted to him and he wrinkled his nose. The toilet stall held nothing that he could see, and checking the toilet itself yielded nothing. The sink was filled with hairs; brown, red, and blonde. He picked up the clumps with tweezers and stuck them into a bag as well.

A bottle of hairspray sat on the sink and he put that into a bag.

As Nick was getting a layer of make-up onto a sticky, Sara walked up behind him. "They're taking the body."

Nick grimaced. "Yeah, you wanna check the shower for anything? There's nothing left on this sink, I'll check the urinal."

"Yeah, sure."

Sarah shined the flashlight everywhere in the shower, finding nothing.

"Sorry, Nick – nothing in the shower."

"Urinal's a no-go."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I could find."

"You check the garbage?"

"Yeah…nada."

"Let's go over this place one more time."

"Sure thing."

Twenty minutes later they had found nothing. No footprints, no hairs, and no more syringes.

Sara's disgust was evident. "For a locker room, that place was disgusting. I can't believe people take showers in that."

Nick quirked a grin. "Yeah, well, us sweaty guys don't really care about that. We just wanna get the major smell off before going home."

"It's disgusting."

"It could've been worse."

"I don't really want to think about how."

Nick only grinned charmingly at her.

* * *

Sara stuck her head into Grissom's office. "Hey, Grissom."

He looked up, his migraine still pounding at his head. "Yes?"

"Ah, we're back."

His eyebrow rose. "I see."

"Okay, well. Okay."

She stepped away from the door and walked down the hall. Grissom pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering if he should call her back. The migraine pounded a definite _no_ and he heeded the disappointing demand.

* * *

Nick was waiting for her in a lab room. "Glad you could come." He winked. "There's so much hair here – what do these girls do? Pull it out in clumps?"

Sara grinned at him. "Maybe."

"At least it's not mine. I'm giving it to DNA now. I got the powder to Trace. You wanna come with?"

"Sure thing."

Sara walked with Nick down the hall, annoyed with Grissom and hoping that this case would be open and close.

* * *

**AN: Next up is an interlude, introducing yet _more_ characters. With something like this, there's gonna be tons of people. We learn that the skaters don't have much to do but get wasted. In more ways than one, I suppose. -Edit: I realized that Jacqui doesn't DO DNA…so I had to fix that. I changed some other things too because I'm an idiot. Also, I apologize about Nick and Sara working together. But I haven't seen season 5 so…- Please review!**


	3. Interlude: Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol

**Title:** Thinner Than Blood   
**By:** Ashika   
**Summary: **A figure skater from Disney on Ice is dead and, as usual, no one is confessing. The CSI team has a couple of witnesses and a suspect who's nowhere to be found. "There's an underground to figure skating? You've got to be kidding!" **  
Disclaimer:** If I owned any part of CSI, I would hardly be writing fanfiction, now would I? In any case, it belongs to CBS and etc. Disney On Ice is property of Disney and it's affiliates.

* * *

_The party was hot tonight. The show was over and everyone was getting wasted and high. Everyone knew the company policies, but nobody cared._

_The manager liked to make a big deal out of drugs. "No drugs. If we have to get a test, we will. In which case, you will be banned from the tour." But he never followed through because his own lover did drugs. They probably did them together._

_Jen loved to party. She loved the atmosphere, it made her feel alive. People were equal when they were drunk, and Miss High-and-Mighty was no exception. Jen laughed at how bad a drunk Steph could be. After two beers Steph was set for the night. She toddled around in her drunken stupor coming onto anything with a penis._

_Tonight, Steph was working on her fourth beer, gulping it down like water. The girl did not know the meaning of pacing herself. _

_Jen narrowed her eyes, the stupid whore was coming onto Chris, _her_ boyfriend. And her even stupider boyfriend was enjoying the attention. Jen grabbed a beer and stomped over to them._

"_Chris, honey, I'm a little hungry. You want to come with? I wanna get some chips."_

_She glared at Steph the entire time, Chris looked indecisive. Steph, the idiot that she was, opened her mouth. "You know, Jen, you should lay off the food. You're gettin' a little chunky 'round the middle."_

_Jen's jaw came unhinged and she hissed, "Shut the fuck up you whore."_

_Chris edged away from them both, though quite definitely farther from Steph than his girlfriend. Even he knew Steph had crossed a forbidden boundary._

_Steph's smile was saccharine, "It's not my fault your boyfriend wants me more than you. It's not like you've got anything going for you. I mean, you're just my subordinate." Steph smirked and looked at her fingernails – trying to be nonchalant._

_Jen's grip on the beer grew tense and her own tone was as sickeningly sweet as Steph's smile. "Aww, I didn't even know you knew such big words!" Her voice grew dark, "Don't underestimate me. One day you'll see who's on top," she sneered and flounced away. She grabbed Chris' arm and proceeded to chug the rest of her beer._

"_Honey, let's go somewhere…private."_

_Chris knew it was for the best to follow her. She was spitting mad and he wasn't going to rock the boat by saying no. He wondered if it was a good idea. In any case, he could shoot up afterwards. He hoped Jen would pass out early. He hated the dramatics and sometimes he wished he could do something more with his life._

_Steph glared as the couple walked away. "You're boyfriend is mine, Jen." She closed and opened her eyes. It was a party – she should be having fun. After all, she was Stephanie Verronna._

_She sashayed up to another boy on the tour and grabbed his butt. "Hey, lover boy, you wanna do some shots?"_

_The man's dark eyes lit up. "Sure, let's do it," he grinned._

'_It' had many different meanings, which they both took advantage of that night._

_

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**AN: Well...I thought the other chapters were better, but oh well. I've begun the twists - yay! Now, we've met most of the characters. You'll find that some people aren't as accurately portrayed as****we've been told, but, that's because of the POV. Anyway, more mystery and our favorite CSIs are doing there job in the next chapter. And what's Catherine, Warrick, and Greggo been doing? I suppose I should include them in the fic. :P I do like them, just not as much as others. No bashy-bash though. I despise bashers.**


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